#4 Behrend Bested By #5 La Roche In First Round Game

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team was unable to get past La Roche in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament, falling by a score of 63-59 on Wednesday night.

Score: La Roche 63, Penn State Behrend 59
Records: La Roche (12-14), Penn State Behrend (14-12­)

Noteworthy:

* Senior Tommy DiRienzo (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park) was named to the AMCC All-Tournament Team

Key Moments:

* As expected, it was a back-and-forth affair the entire game between the Redhawks and Lions on Wednesday
* The first half saw seven lead changes and four ties
* With two minutes left in the half, La Roche grabbed its biggest lead of six (31-25) with three straight baskets
* However, a Matthew McDonough (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) three-pointer right before the buzzer only put Behrend down by two going into halftime (33-31)
* Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with nine points in the first 20 minutes, while seven different Lions notched three or more first half points
* The second half was similar to the first with 15 more lead changes and six ties
* A Nate Edwards (Girard, PA/Girard) made layup with 10:47 on the clock gave Behrend one-point advantage (41-42)
* After the Edwards layup, the Redhawks went on a 9-2 run in the next two minutes to retake the lead (50-44)
* La Roche took its biggest lead of the night of nine, thanks to a turnaround jumper from Bryce Epps with four minutes left
* The Redhawks would seal their first round win with free throws down the stretch to advance to Friday's semifinal game
* McDonough recorded a team-high 18 points to go along with three rebounds
* DiRienzo was the other Lion to tally double-figures, finishing with 16 points and four rebounds
* On the glass, Michael Sopko (New Castle, PA/Neshannock) claimed a game-high eight rebounds to go along with seven points and two steals
* Thomas led La Roche with 18 points, while Epps (14 points), Michael Brooks (11 points), and Joe Starzynski (10 points) all had double-digit scoring efforts
* All-in-all, Wednesday's contest saw 22 lead changes and 10 ties